Edward Allhusen likes words, particularly words that roll round in the mouth and have a quaint, unfamiliar ring to them. He is a retired publisher and has devoted years of his life to ‘rescuing’ words he feels have a special place in the English language, but are in danger of dying out through lack of use. In his recently published book Betrumped (which means cheated or deceived) he lists what he describes as a personal selection of now unfamiliar words, or words that have changed their meaning over the past few hundred years. Some of the words listed are words I still use occasionally. Defenestrate, for example, meaning the act of throwing someone out of the window (from the Latin, fenestra...

Hi Everyone I thought I would give you all an update on the VIRO series. What started as a few scratchy notes while I was on holiday two years in Portugal has now become a fascinating experiment in independent publishing. Book One was launched in March 2018 and has been at Number One in the Amazon chart since May. It is currently free for download for Kindle and this has been an enormous help in getting the book some attention. Book One has currently been downloaded from Amazon 766 times. This is very encouraging. Book One is also currently available for download at Smashwords as well and 84 copies have been dowloaded to date. Book Two was launched in May 2018 and has been very well received...

I can remember watching ‘The Good Old Days’ on my grandparents’ back and white TV, later upgraded to colour. This was a programme of popular songs from the nineteenth and early twentieth century, screened in front of a live audience, who arrived dressed up in Edwardian clothes and were encouraged to join in. Joining in the singing was part of the old music hall tradition, a tradition that started in the public houses of the 1850s. Around this time landlords – always on the look-out for ways to sell more drinks – started to notice that on the evenings when certain singers came into the pub more drinkers would choose that evening to come in as well, so that they got a drink and a bit of entert...

It’s a hundred years ago today that the First World War ended, and there are memorials taking place around the world to mark this. Many families were affected by the death or serious injuries (mental and physical) of the young men who fought for King and Country. The traditional role of women was also changed by the war as they left their homes to support the war effort, and brought up families single-handed. True, they were expected to meekly return to the kitchen once the men came home, but the genie was out of the bottle, and the vote and greater independence – both socially and in work – followed. Language was changed too, and phrases coined by the men at the front came into common usag...

Not you too, Paul Hewson, I said to myself. The images were grainy. The glasses gave him away. It was snowing in the footage. The garage forecourt was empty. Bono was talking on what looked like a Mobira Cityman 900. 183 x 43 x 79 mm. Those things have a total weight of 760g. They were nicknamed ‘Gorba’ in Finland because Mikhail Gorbachev used one during a press conference in 1987. Who would be on the other end of a phone like that? And what would be said? I could only imagine. Original link

Where did the English language come from, and why do we mostly speak English in the UK and the USA? I can’t answer the last question, but here is a brief summary of how English evolved from an unknown group of speakers living somewhere unspecified over 15,000 years ago. Around 14-15,000 years ago, their language evolved into three: distinct versions: New Guinea; Sino-Tibetan (which gave rise to Chinese), and Nostratic. Nostratic carried on evolving in different regions and, about 10,000 years ago, became what have been termed Afro-Asiatic (Hebrew and Arabic), Dravidian, and Eurasiatic. Fast (?) forward around another 5,000 years and we have Eurasiatic dividing into Altaic, Uralic (the sour...

Hello Everyone I am thrilled to announce that Book Three in the VIRo series has recently been launched and is available for purchase online and in all good bookshops. The series is going from strength to strength and as of this morning the Kindle version of Book One is still Number One in the Amazon chart. If you want to see what all the fuss is about then why not get your FREE copy of Book One here . Original link

We’re marking Halloween, and things that go bump in the night, in this blog today, albeit in a literary fashion. Whilst the kids are out tricking and treating, grown-ups might prefer to curl up in the warm with a good, scary, book. And none better than Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the 1890s, Stoker was the manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London. He liked writing in his spare time, but most of his writing was un-researched, spur of the moment, stuff that was regarded as unreadable by any who saw his manuscripts. It was different with Dracula. For this book he regularly popped round to the London Library and ended up reading about forty books before putting pen to paper. We know this because he ...

Everyone has heard of Marmite – everyone in the UK, that is. I’m not sure if it is so popular elsewhere in the world. For those who aren’t in the know, Marmite is a yeast and vegetable extract that is used as a spread in sandwiches or on toast. It can also be added to stews etc. for extra flavouring. What people, including those in the UK, may not realise is that the word comes from marmite – a large cooking pot, or the soup cooked within such a pot. (Marmite is French for casserole, or pot). Presumably – and I’m guessing here – the soup was full of vegetables and very flavoursome. Hence its adoption as the name for the spread. I quite like the taste of Marmite, but I don’t have very strong ...

What does the silver screen screen? It screens me from the world it holds – that is, makes me invisible. And it screens that world from me – that is, screens its existence from me. Stanley Cavell, The World Viewed The Eleventh Film The first public film screening organised by Auguste and Louis Lumière took place on December 28th 1895 at the Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris. Eleven short films were on the bill that night. Each film was 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, ran approximately 50 seconds. Only ten films are listed for posterity. La Sortie de L’Usine Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory ) (46 seconds)Le Jardinier (L’Arroseur Arrosé) (Th...

Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a reference librarian at a public library on Long Island. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters-in-Crime, the Long Island Authors Group, and the Cat Writer’s Association. She has a BA in English and an MLS in Library Science from Long Island University. Her novels include the three books of the Cobble Cove cozy mystery series published by Solstice Publishing: A Stone’s Throw , Between a Rock and a Hard Place *** , and Written in Stone . Debbie has also published a romantic comedy novella featuring a jewel heist caper, When Jack Trumps Ace , a paranormal romance, Cloudy Rainbow , and has written articles and short stories fo...

We have discussed the use and misuse of the apostrophe before on this blog. In brief, is should generally be used to show possession or a missing letter, and it should not be used to show that a word is plural or between a date and an ‘s’ – as (not) in ‘during the 1980’s, mobile phone’s were almost unheard of.’) The use and misuse of apostrophes keeps grammarians in a constant state of alert, if not agitation – see Simon Griffin’s book F***ing Apostrophes. But they don’t usually attract the attention of local politicians, going about their official business. Unless that is, they are hoping to represent one of the newly formed districts in Cornwall UK. Ninety minutes were put aside for counci...

VIRO – The Trilogy now available A virus has destroyed the world. Families are torn apart. Will Jake find his missing mum? Or will he just become another VIRO? REVIEWS FOR THE VIRO SERIES ‘Powerful and poignant, VIRO packs a punch.’ ‘Sad and haunting, VIRO is a new take on the zombie genre.’ ‘Absolutely thrilling. I loved every page more than the previous, to the point that I couldn’t stop reading.’ ‘Highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys zombie stories.’ ‘I was left on the edge of my seat when I finished the book with a thirst for more adventure!’ ‘ Having Read Falcon Boy and VIRO, it was with eager anticipation that I started to read VIRO II. Barnaby Taylor has a daring and rich...

Donna Alice Patton is a gardening enthusiast from the Midwest who has won numerous trophies and ribbons for her flowers and vegetables. In the winter, when she can’t play in the dirt, she soothes her creativity by writing instead. She’s the author of five books for children including: Saddle Up! – based on a real-life California horse camp, and a finalist in the 2017 Silver Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, as well as Snipped in the Bud: A Tale from the Garden of Mysteries. What is the title of your latest book? The Mystery in the Maze – Book Two in the Maggie and Em series. When a friend tells them about an overgrown maze and a missing treasure in gold coins, the twins are...

Nancy grew up in various locations on the east coast of America, and now calls central California home. She retired recently, having spent 35 years as a technical writer – translating engineer-speak into words and sentences, which she describes as like translating ancient Greek, where you’re not too familiar with the Greek part! From September, 2016 to August, 2017, she and her husband wandered across the planet, visiting France, Spain, England, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, ending up in the delightful city of Ghent, Belgium for three months. They’re still on the move, having just returned from Amsterdam, where they participated in a home exchange. They’ll be travelling in India in December an...

Barrow Girl, Chapter 3 Inteachán lives alone in a small flat that overlooks Front Square in Trinity College, Dublin. Fourth window. Fifth floor. Sixth door. A secret gate on Pearse Street. The flat has been in Inteachán’s family since 1804. A drunken game of Faro. A lost bet honoured the next morning. Sealed deeds and ornate key. Inteachán’s flat does not feature as part of the official tour of Trinity. No gown-wearing students halt crowds of tourists in front of the building and tell them that ‘the world’s one and only hope for salvation lives here.’ A plaque does not sit on the wall. The gift shop does not sell tea towels with her face on them. No key rings. No bookmarks. No feedback on Tr...

Not many people know about Grace Hopper who died in 1992. She completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale in 1934 and taught mathematics at Vassar for the next ten years. During the Second World War she joined the naval reserve and retired in 1986 as a Rear Admiral. She was also a renowned computer programming pioneer. Among her achievements are her involvement in designing the common business orientated language (COBOL) for the first commercial computer, and her role in standardising the computer languages used by the navy. She was a clever and remarkable woman, but what merits her inclusion of a blog about writers, writing and language, is her coining of a new meaning for the word bug. The ...

Barrow Girl Chapter 2 This is the story of a twelve year-old girl called Inteachán and the things she does. Inteachán does these things because she is very good at doing them. You might say that she was born to do them. You might also say that she has no choice. Either way you would be right. Inteachán does what she does because she has to. Or else the world will end. Simple as. Inteachán does not always see things this way. Sometimes she likes to pretend that she is simply ordinary. Uneventful. Unnoticed, even, but someone this discreet can never really exist in a book that bears their name. Perhaps this is something to ask her if you ever get the chance? The things that Inteachán does are ...

The English language is constantly changing. If it didn’t, we’d still talk (and spell) like people in the time of Shakespeare, or Chaucer, or Beowulf. Which wouldn’t really be a problem – the problem we have now is because, as the language has evolved, we have lost the ability to understand how it was written and spoken in centuries gone by. We don’t get the puns in Shakespeare (were they funny even then?) We realise words must have been pronounced differently in Chaucer’s time to make any rhythmic sense. And the different spelling / pronunciation / syntax in Beowulf makes that poem almost completely incomprehensible for modern readers and listeners. Though the word Hwaet is still about the ...

Barrow Girl Chapter One A dark and filthy night. Black as black. Like Evil settled as an inviolable sheath. A foul wind keens. In the darkness of the distance sits a small mound barely-glimpsed from here. A lonely tree bent double on top and aching from the endless torment of its exposure. Nothing is abroad. Nor ever should be. No one walks on a night like this. But wait. A small figure stands next to the tree. Delicate amid the destruction. Gently lifting a large flat stone with a rusty crowbar. Carefully looping a rope around the waist of another stone. Tying it off. Lowering the other end into a small black hole that leers like a baleful eye in the frightening night. Pulling the rope. Tes...